Apparatus for closing elevator-doors



(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. N. JUDSON.

APPARATUS FOR CLOSING ELEVATOR DOORS.

No. 476,388. Patented June 7, 1892.

MMKM- (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. N. JUDSON. APPARATUS FOR CLOSING ELEVATOR DOORS. No. 476,388. Patented June 7, 1892.

wi tmaoeo m U'NrTEn STATEs CHARLES N. JUDSON, OF

- APPARATUS FOR CLOSI SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

NG ELEVATOR-DOORS.

Patent No. 476,388, dated June 7, 1892.

Application filed February 17. 1892. Serial No. 421,871. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES N. J UDSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electrical Apparatus for Closing Elevator-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known that elevator shafts and cars are a great source of danger to the public from the fact that through the negligence or carelessness of the attendant or through faulty construction the doors or gates of such shafts or cars are either left open or are permitted to open accidentallyforinstance, by the action of gravitywhile the elevator-car is in motionand thereby persons are permitted to fall through the shaft and either killed or badly injured.

The object of my invention is to insure the closing of such doors or gates by means of an electric current operated, preferably, by the ordinary controlling device of the elevatorcar, governing means for closing said doors without additional labor on the part of the attendant, or by means of an electric switch or the like operated from some local station either in the building or the car, by which said doors may be closed at the will of the attendant.

Figure 1 shows the application of my invention to the doors or gates of an elevatorshaft extending through two floors of a building, the doors at one fioor (the first) being represented as open to allow passengers to enter or depart from the elevator-car, which is indicatedin dotted lines at that floor, While the door at the floor above is represented as closed. Fig. 2 shows the application of my device to the door of the elevator-car itself.

In Fig. 1, D is an operating-pulley of the elevator, adapted to control the motor by which the car is elevated or lowered in the shaft.

0 is the rope or controlling device by which the attendant controls the starting and stopping movement of the car.

B is an electric battery, preferably located in the basement of a building, with its circuit 2!: running through the several electric motors which act to close the doors of the shaft and completing its circuit by means of the springrest upon this insulated surface no current can pass through the wire in. YVhen, however, the elevator-attendant operates the rope O, revolving the pulley D,for the purpose of causing the elevatoncar to move, the springfingers are brought upon the connecting surface or contact K on the pulley D and the cir-- cuit is completed.

In Fig.1 are shown the doors at two entrance-ways of the elevator-shaft, the ele-- vator-car E 0 being indicated by the dotted lines behind the open door at the first floor, with the elevator-cable and attachment also shown in dotted lines, the car itself and its door-closing device being shown in detail in Fig. 2. Upon each door, preferably at the top, I place a rack R, whose teeth are adapted to engage with the teeth of the pinion Q, and these teeth in turn with the teeth upon the smaller pinion which is fixed upon the shaft P of an electric motor M. This motor is of the ordinary well-known kind, having a current movement in but one direction (shown by the arrows) and without any dead-point and when not under control of the current capable of being revolved backward by the movement of the rack upon the door. This motor is electrically connected with battery 13 by the main wire to, which includes each motor of the apparatus.

In the main circuit 20 is arranged a switch comprising the terminals or fingers d d and the pulley D, with its contact K and insulated surface I, the said fingers resting firmly against the pulley or disk D in an evident manner. This pulley D has an insulated surface I and a connecting-surface K so positioned upon the pulley D that when the pulley is turned sufficiently to set the car in motion the two spring-fingers (Z (Z shall rest upon the connecting-surface K and complete the circuit to the battery through the wire w.

Upon each door B is placed an insulated circuit completing or connecting plate '1, upon which rests one end of the spring-finger or contact 6, the other end of said spring-finger being connected to the main circuit by the branch wire 20 Near one side of the door is placed another spring-finger if, so positioned that when the door B is closed this springtinger 15 will rest upon the insulated connect ing-surface upon the door. The other end ot this spring-finger t is also connected with the branch circuit-20 which joins the main circuit beyond the motor. For each motor there is also a second branch circuit w, which is con- ;0 trolled by a switch S, by means of which the motor may be shunted. This switch is normally closed on the contact 0 in the main and is shifted to contact a of the branch to when the motor and its branch are to be cut out I5 of the main circuit, which may be done when for any reason it is desired to throw a door and its motor out of the system.

The operation of my device may be described as follows: \Vhen the car is at restthat is to say, not acted upon byrthe lifting devicethe pulley D will be in a position shown in the drawings, with the two springfingers (Z (Z resting upon the insulated portion I, so that no current is passing through the circuit 20, the door B at the first floor being supposed to stand open for the admission of passengers. It now the attendant desires to start the car, the pulley D is turned by the controlling device 0 in the proper direction 0 to cause the car to rise, and when both the spring-fingers dd have come upon the connecting-surtace K of the pulley D the circuit is completed from one terminal (Z through the main wire 20 and the motor back to the 5 terminal (Z. It now the door of the shaft at the first floor be left open, the current causes the motor M to revolve and by means of the pinions P and Q and the rack R on the door causes the door I) to be moved until the latch catches upon the hasp and the door is held closed. Simultaneously with the closing of the door the spring-finger 25' comes in contact with the electrical connecting-surface T, and the current then taking the course of the least resistance is shunted around the motor by way of the wire 10 spring-finger t, connecting-plate T, spring-finger i5, and wire 10 back to the main circuit. The current then following the wire 20 to the motor ad jacent to the door above in the shaft will, if that door be open, operate the motor and through the pinion and rack will cause the door to close, and upon the door being closed the currentwill be shunted, as before, through the wire 10 spring-finger t, connectingsurface T, spring-finger if and wire 10 back to the spring'fingers (Z (Z to the battery. It at any time, for the sake of repairs and thelike, it is desirable to keep any door of the shaft open while the elevatoris being operated, the current is shifted by means of the switch S from the binding-post c to the binding-post c, and the motor at that floor is then cut out from the circuit.

It will be understood that the motor M is so adj ustedthat when the current is cut out by the movement of the pulley D, so that the spring-fingers cl (Z rest upon the insulated surface, the pinion in the motor is free to move backward, so that the door B can be unlatched and pushed back by the attendant orpulled back by a counterbalancirig-weight IV, if desired.

In order to facilitate the opening of the door, I provide the same with a weight V having acord passing over a guide-pulleyarranged at a convenient point. This weight will also serve to overcome the slight resistance which the idle motor imposes upon opening the door.

In Fig. 2 the operative parts of the doorclosing device are the same, E 0 being the elevator-car, which is set in motion by anattendant through the controlling device 0 through the pulley D, the parts being in all respects the same as in Fig. 1, save that the main-circuit wire 20 is to be inclosed in the flexible tube .I. In case there are two doors to the car, as is frequently the case where the openings or doorways in the elevator-shaft are upon different sides, the application and operation of my device will be the same as that applied to the shaft-doors, as is shown in Fig. 1, save that in the case of the car the two doors will be on different sides of the car,

7 the current passing first through the motor of one door and then through the motor of another door and back to the pulleyand battery, as in the case of the several shaft-doors.

In case it is desired that one door shall be cut out for the sake of repairs, &c., a switch identical with one shown in Fig. 1 is to be in serted in the line, so as to shunt the circuit around the first motor.

My invention is of broad scope, as will be seen from the claims, and various modifications of the same maybe adopted without departing from the spirit of the invention.

It is evident that the controlling-switch of the main circuit may be arranged to operate independently of the controlling device 0, and in this way the closing of all the doors of the series may be made certain by manipulating the switch; or, if preferred, an additional switch for controlling the main circuit may be used for hand operation. Any set of doors or gates or the like may be equipped with my invention, which is not necessarily limited to elevator-doors.

In the use of my invention the main circuit may obviously be controlled from any convenient point in any suitable manner instead of by the controlling device of the car. Such a circuit-controller or switch may be located, for instance, in the engineers room. It may be located in the caritself, so as to be within convenient reach of the conductor or operator of the car, who may thus have control of the entire apparatus, the push-button or switch being an auxiliary attachment in such case, if preferred, or obviously it may take the place of the controlling device of the car in its function of controlling the main circuit. In Fig. 1 I have shown how this arrangement maybe carried out,PB representing the push button or circuitcontroller, which is located within the carand connected with the terminals (Z (Z of the main circuit by means of the auxiliary lines Z.

Though I have shown but one kind of controlling device C for the elevator-car, it is obvious that any character of such device may be used with the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is-

1. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car, of one or more passenger-doors, electricall -operated mechanism connected with and positively actuating each door to close it, and a switch controlling said electrically-operated mechanisms, whereby any open door maybe automatically closed by operating said switch.

.3. The combination of a series of doors, an electric motor for closing each door, an electric circuitincluding said motors, and a switch controlling said circuit, whereby any open door of the series may be automatically closed by operating the switch.

3. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car and a controlling device for the car, of one or more doors, electrically-operated mechanism for closing each door, and a switch controlling said electrically-operated mechanisms, said switch c011- nected with and operated by the said car-controlling device.

4.. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car and a controlling device for the car, of one or more doors, an electrio motor for closing each door, a source of electricity and an electric circuit leading therefrom and including said motors, means for automatically cutting each motor out of the circuit upon closing its door, and a switch controlling said circuit and connected with and operated by said cancontrolling device.

5. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car, of one or more doors, an electric motor for closing each door, a source of electricity and a main circuit leading therefrom and including said motors, a branch circuit around each motor and circuitcompleting mechanism located therein and operated by the door and serving to complete the circuit by way of the branch upon closing the door, whereby the motor thereof may be cut out of circuit, and a switch controlling the main circuit.

6. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car, of one or more doors, an electric motor for closing each door, a source of electricity and a main circuit leading therefrom and including the said motors, a branch circuit around each motor having circuit-completin g mechanism located therein and operated by the door and serving to complete the circuit by way of the branch upon closing the door, whereby the motor thereof may be cut out of circuit, a normally-open branch circuit for each motor provided with a hand-switch for shunting the motor audits branch at will, and a switch for controlling the main circuit.

7. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car and a controlling device for the car, of one or more doors, an electric motor for closing each door, a source of electricity and a main circuit leading therefrom and including said motors, a branch c rcuit around each motor provided with circuit-completing mechanism operated by the door and serving to complete the circuit by way of the branch upon closing said door whereby the motor thereof may be cut out ot circuit, and a switch controlling the main c rcuit and connected with and operated by said car-controlling device.

8. The combination, with an elevator-car and its door, of an electric motor for closing said door, a source of electricity and a circuit leading therefrom and including said motor, means for automatically cutting said motor out of circuit upon the closing of the door actuated thereby, and a switch for controlling said circuit.

9. The combination, with an elevator-car and its door, of an electric motor for closing said door, a source of electricity and a ma n circuit leading therefrom and including said motor, a branch circuit around said motor and circuit-completing mechanism located therein and operated by said door and serving upon closing the door to completethe circuit by way of the branch, thereby cutting the motor out of circuit, and a switch for controlling the main circuit.

10. The combination, with an elevator-car and its door and a controlling device for the car, of an electric motor for closing said door, a source of electricity and a main circuit leading therefrom and including said motor, means controlled by said door for cutting said motor out of circuit'upon closing the door, and a switch controlling said main circuit and connected with and operated bysaid car-controlling device.

11. The combination, with a door having a rack for actuating it, of an electric motor geared to said rack, a branch circuit around the motor, and circuit-completing mechanism controlled by said door for completing the circuit by way of the branch upon closing the door, whereby the motor may be cut out of circuit.

12. The combination, with a door having a rack for actuating it, of an electric motor geared to the rack, a branch circuit around the motor and provided with contacts therein, and a circuit-completing plate mounted upon said door for making and breaking circuit with said contacts.

13. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car and a controlling device O for the car, of one or more doors and electrically-operated mechanism for closing each of said doors, a source of electricity and a main circuit to, including said electrically- I loading therefrom and including, said motors,

operated mechanisms, a switch located in the main circuit and comprising the terminals (Z (Z, and a rocking switch-disk D, provided with a contact K and operated by said car-controlling device C.

1%. The combination, with an elevator comprising a shaft and car and a controlling device O for said car, of one or more doors B, an electric motor M for closing each door, a source of electricity and a main circuit 20 a branch circuit Q02 around said motor and circuit-completing mechanism located therein and controlled by the door actuated by said I5 motor, and a switch located in the main circuit and connected with and operated by said carcontrolling device 0.

CHARLES N. JUDSON.

Witnesses:

A. M. HAYES, ELISSHABET B. TERRY. 

